But, of course, they are all posing. Including the usually lethargic Janet Napolitano — at the right, turned from the camera, dressed in electric blue — who seems roused for action. Not as roused as Teddy Roosevelt and his horse... and think about how difficult it would have been for a horse to pose for a painting like that. It's all phony of course, all the way down to TR and the horse he rode in on.

As a former Federal employee, I noticed the name plates were made of the same folded card material used in countless meetings I attended. What's good enough for the frontline govnernment employee is good enough for the President of the United States and BP executives.

"It's all phony of course, all the way down to TR and the horse he rode in on."

All that posing by the assembled poseurs may be phony, but $20 billion definitely has the ring of reality to it. What's not phony are the calculations that led the O-Team to demand the cash pile, and the BP team to cough it up.

His hand gesture may indicate precise (may be that is why he was gesturing like crazy during his speech two days ago) but his face says something else.. he is not even looking at the culprits and the Swede is saying "Bring it on." They know a weasel when they see one.

The flashy image of 20 billion placed into escrow according to speeches and news headlines is phony too. It's 3 billion now. Later deposits may be made on a schedule, but 17 billion of the money is MIA and subject to any Bankruptcy that is filed.

It is a czar or a commission or both but never me.. because I am not an expert and I don't know what to do..

There were enough warnings!

From Jake Tapper during 2008 primary:

"And, well, and you start making mistakes," Obama said, "or you lose the big picture. Or you lose a sense of, I think you lose a feel-- " {misses teleprompter}

"Your feeling," interrupted Cameron. "And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions." {Cameron stands in for the teleprompter}

"That's exactly right," Obama said. "And the truth is that we've got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know ten times more than we do about the specifics of the topics. And so if what you're trying to do is micromanage and solve everything then you end up being a dilettante but you have to have enough knowledge to make good judgments about the choices that are presented to you."

It's an interesting shot. The BP guys had already decided to take one up the keister, and you can see how much they are enjoying it. The One is gasbaggig, and you can see how much his team is enjoying it. The real fun starts after the photo op when the lawyers get their knives out. The BP Chief Counsel looks more than a match for Holder, but surely the DOJ found a competent team to stand up to the man eaters from BP.

My guess is that we got schtupped. Liguidity for now, is not a problem for BP, and no one knows the fine print on the escrow deal. It's plain that the pols will steal as much as possible, especially Chicago pols. This will not end well.

His precise point is that he needs to use more words than anyone else to prove that he's in charge. The BP guys are thinking, "What an ass." And he is, you know.

I had a boss like him once. The guy liked being in charge but if we ever needed anything from him, we were punished for it...and he held a grudge like nobody's business. He also liked to identify a whipping boy and we all knew that we could blame everything on that person, and the boss would be okay with that. O does the same--tries to keep us on his side by constantly reminding us who the bad guy is this week.

For those who missed it, The Zero was in that meeting for all of 20 minutes, probably just for the photo op.

But to Ann's point about posing. Take a look at Svanberg and Halo Joe. Joe is saying something fatuous or stupid or condescending (maybe all of the above) and it's obviously hit a nerve with Svanberg. That's no pose, that's pure hate. If I were Joe or The Zero, I wouldn't go into an alley with that guy.

PS Julius, I have to agree with most of what you said.

PPS The painting, if I'm not mistaken, is Frederic Remington's portrait of TR. Few people painted horse as well, so the attitude of the horse is probably authentic.

Ann is making a point about poses, but I'm sure she knows about the painting.

When Congress decided to look at organized crime they put the hearings on this new fangled thing called television. They were interviewing the capo di tuti capo of the day in the "Prime Minsiter" the one and only Frank Costello. He refused to allow himself to be photographed and for some reason it stuck. So they only televised his hands which he twisted and turned as he tried to talk his way out of the questions and not give up anything he could be prosecuted for by the feds.

Pretty sure Biden is sleeping. Is the BP guy the one that Obama said he would have fired if he was working for Obama? What are the chances that Obama (outside of politics) would ever be at a point where he was the boss of a CEO? Anywhere?

"Ha ha yes, it's all posturing, the $20 billion in liability-unlimited escrow funds will be paid out in monopoly money and oily sea life."

Ha Ha yes, nothing like bypassing rule of law to extort money from anyone is there? What the hell, he's the president! He can do anything he wants and Montagne is right behind him.

Teddy, of course, would have commanded the fleet to the scene and by executive order initiated the construction of the berms. He would have commissioned every fishing boat from Port Aransas to Apalachicola. He would have called in the Chairman of BP within the week. He would have called for prisoners to rake the beaches. He would have recognized that until the well was capped or circumvented that the war was against the oil on the surface of the Gulf and he would have done everything in his power to keep it from our shores. He would not have consulted a lawyer. He might have failed, but he would have done so in a spectacular way that would have resulted in cheers and not sneers.

Isn't there a tradition about portraying famous men on horses? Where if the horse is standing on all fours, the man died of natural causes, or if the horse is up on its hind legs, the man died in battle? Is that a statue-only thing, or did T.R. decide to ignore that tradition as well?

There's no way in Hell anyone should be apologizing to BP for the fiasco of BP's own making.

Nor is there any way in Hell that people are going to let Obama off the hook for the fiasco of Obama's own making.

USC TITLE 33 > CHAPTER 26 > SUBCHAPTER III > § 1321:(a) DefinitionsFor the purpose of this section, the term— (1) “oil” means oil of any kind or in any form, including, but not limited to, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil;... (11) “offshore facility” means any facility of any kind located in, on, or under, any of the navigable waters of the United States, and any facility of any kind which is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and is located in, on, or under any other waters, other than a vessel or a public vessel; ...(b)(1) The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that there should be no discharges of oil or hazardous substances into or upon the navigable waters of the United States, adjoining shorelines, or into or upon the waters of the contiguous zone, or in connection with activities under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act [43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.] or the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 [33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.], or which may affect natural resources belonging to, appertaining to, or under the exclusive management authority of the United States (including resources under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act [16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.]). ...(c) Federal removal authority (1) General removal requirement (A) The President shall, in accordance with the National Contingency Plan and any appropriate Area Contingency Plan, ensure effective and immediate removal of a discharge, and mitigation or prevention of a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance—...(d) National Contingency Plan (1) Preparation by PresidentThe President shall prepare and publish a National Contingency Plan for removal of oil and hazardous substances pursuant to this section. (2) ContentsThe National Contingency Plan shall provide for efficient, coordinated, and effective action to minimize damage from oil and hazardous substance discharges, including containment, dispersal, and removal of oil and hazardous substances, and shall include, but not be limited to, the following:... (B) Identification, procurement, maintenance, and storage of equipment and supplies.... (F) Procedures and techniques to be employed in identifying, containing, dispersing, and removing oil and hazardous substances.... (M) A fish and wildlife response plan, developed in consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other interested parties (including State fish and wildlife conservation officials), for the immediate and effective protection, rescue, and rehabilitation of, and the minimization of risk of damage to, fish and wildlife resources and their habitat that are harmed or that may be jeopardized by a discharge.

Just walked past a TV and caught a few minutes of Hayward in the hotseat. He looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. It must be hard to sit there, knowing that BP screwed up enormously on his watch, knowing that he is being held personally responsible...and still thinking, "If that prick Obama had just called me on day 3 and offered to work with me on this..."

Because O--with all his finger-pointing and "they'll pay" bluster in between rounds of golf--has made it all about Tony Hayward. Once O noticed that something happened in the Gulf of Mexico (when was that? how many weeks in?), he must have realized that he would take heat for it...and took the pissant approach of blaming Hayward instead of the American approach of offering assistance, concern, compassion.

I cannot think of a single instance when I thought O was feeling something close to compassion.

That was my first reaction too. A bunch of people who richly deserve to have their jobs in danger.

Beyond that, the BP people are trying to figure out how to keep their company in existence.

Obama is just trying to retain power. A meeting-mugging like this gives Obama the illusion that he has power. But like BP's well his power is gushing uselessly, spreading thin over a delusively calm surface, destroying, choking the life and spirit not of a region but of the entire nation.

Teddy, of course, would have commanded the fleet to the scene and by executive order initiated the construction of the berms. He would have commissioned every fishing boat from Port Aransas to Apalachicola. He would have called in the Chairman of BP within the week. He would have called for prisoners to rake the beaches. He would have recognized that until the well was capped or circumvented that the war was against the oil on the surface of the Gulf and he would have done everything in his power to keep it from our shores. He would not have consulted a lawyer. He might have failed, but he would have done so in a spectacular way that would have resulted in cheers and not sneers.

Can't help but pine for some adults to be sitting across the table from the BP execs. Re-imagine the picture with Bush and Cheney. Suddenly it looks like a picture of people solving a problem instead of a photo op. (Of course, then you'd also have to imagine the picture being taken several weeks ago.)

She screwed up intelligence gathering in the 90's and helped precipitate 9/11, ushered Fannie Mae towards the financial precipice in the 00's, and came away richer and more influential. It seems only right that she's on site for this mess.

"All that posing by the assembled poseurs may be phony, but $20 billion definitely has the ring of reality to it. What's not phony are the calculations that led the O-Team to demand the cash pile, and the BP team to cough it up."

$2o Bilion doesn't even begin to cover it, and a third of that will be eaten by lawyers, so it's a nice payday for Obama's buddies who will be coming to the trough for dinner soon.

I don't get it. Obama jawbones $20 billion out of a company responsible for only $75 million, and the Althousians are still bitching and moaning about him.

Sorry, Freeman, nothing personal:

Can't help but pine for some adults to be sitting across the table from the BP execs. Re-imagine the picture with Bush and Cheney. Suddenly it looks like a picture of people solving a problem instead of a photo op.

If it's Bush and Cheney the people on the other side of the table work for ExxonMobil.

I hope they aren't discussing this , at the table in these pics, a theory posted over at the Oil Drum blog.

All of these things lead to only one place, a fully wide open well bore directly to the oil deposit...after that, it goes into the realm of "the worst things you can think of"... [...] the very least damaging outcome as bad as it is, is that we are stuck with a wide open gusher blowing out 150,000 barrels a day of raw oil or more.

FLS: I am not sure "jawboned" is the right term. "Extorted" might be a better fit, but I wasn't there. I can only conclude that BP determined that for PR and general liability reasons they should capitulate to this stupid "fund" that will be overseen by some guy that Obama appoints. The devil, of course, will be in the details which we probably will never see. I certainly want BP to do the right thing, but I am not happy if that means that if we are in business we have to warrant that accidents will never happen and that the laws placing dollar liability on accidents have no meaning.

Shut up. This guy is community-organizing his ass off and what do you do? -- complain, complain, complain. I'm tell'n ya, a guy gets no respect around here, I said "get me a photo op that makes me look like T. Roosevelt on a horse," and they stick me on top of Janet Napolitano.

Any idea what the average offshore oil well produces per day? I have not seen that figure anywhere and thought it could be handy to use for a resonableness check when we get all these estimates thrown around.

Dead Julius: "The guys on the left look qualified and competent and no-nonsense, like they should be running our country."

There's a reason why 90% of executive positions are held by middle-aged men over six feet tall. It's because they trip all those father-figure nerves for people like Dead Julius. They make Dead Julius feel safe and secure, which is why we're willing to pay them forty million dollars a year to turn good ideas and hard work into dogshit through mismanagement.

Halojones-fan: Wont' that be great if we put BP and those fat cat execs out of business? Won't that be cool? Then all the people who work on the rigs and in the refineries and in the gas stations and that drive the gas to and fro can all get really good jobs in the green energy business, building and repairing windmills. And the investors, well they are like investors, fat cats right? Tough titty to them.

It is going to be so cool. Because we can't have accidents in Obama's world and there are no accidents in the green energy world. No accidents period in the new world. Because when you have accidents you had bad management: post hoc ergo propter hoc. Because the guys in that room, the guys who run the fourth largest corporation in the world, should have known this was going to happen but they wouldn't stop it.

You know what? It isn't up to Obama to decide who pays what and how much. We are a country of laws and due process (at least if you are a freaking Muslim bomber)and I am disgusted that this thug takes pride in himself becoming the law.

Still, if I was running against him, I would absolutely drill that quote into the minds of every single voter in the district. Is you Representative working for you, or are they working for BP, despoiler of beaches?

Little did the voters know in voting for Obama that they were getting Al Sharpton's Politics of Shakedown.

I will personally see Tony Hayward's head on a pike for caving in to this.

I am a BP Shareholder (via Amoco for 40 years). We F*d up so we will need to make it right. But handing over the money needed to make it right to the most unethical administration ever was a major blunder. It will not serve the people of the Gulf well nor will it serve BP.

And yes, the business climate in this country does matter if you want jobs. Ignoring the rule of Law and having congres speople threaten to pass retroactive legislation does a lot of damage to people's willingness to take a risk in return for a reward.

working out tonite I thought of a clinical analogy. When running a code arrest on a patient two of the many UNHELPFUL things to do was 1) spend time trying to figure out who f'd up to lead to the arrest2) run around like chicken with its head cut off screaming OMG,OMG!!!

It's like watching adults at the childrens table. God, what an embarrassment this administration is. It's not even on the level that leftards claimed Bush as being stupid. This is just a whole new level of felony dumb.